Hot Topics:

Afghan Taliban claim they killed 4 US troops

The Associated Press

Posted:
06/18/2013 12:10:24 AM MDT

Updated:
06/18/2013 11:51:21 PM MDT

Click photo to enlarge

Muhammad Naeem a representative of the Taliban speaks during a press conference at the official opening of their office in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. In a major breakthrough, the Taliban and the U.S. announced Tuesday that they will hold talks on finding a political solution to ending nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan as the Islamic militant movement opened an office in Qatar. American officials with the Obama administration said the office in the Qatari capital of Doha was the first step toward the ultimate U.S.-Afghan goal of a full Taliban renouncement of links with al-Qaida.

KABUL, Afghanistan—The Taliban have claimed responsibility for an attack in Afghanistan that killed four U.S. troops just hours after the insurgent group announced it would hold talks with the Americans on finding a political solution to ending the nearly 12-year war.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said on Wednesday that the militants fired two rockets into the Bagram Air Base late on Tuesday.

American officials confirmed the base had come under attack by indirect fire—likely a mortar or rocket—and that four U.S. troops were killed.

The attack underscores the challenges ahead after the Taliban and the U.S. announced they would hold talks in Qatar to try and negotiate a solution to the violence.

A wounded Afghan man reacts at the site of a blast near the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, June, 18, 2013. The large bomb exploded in the Afghan capital on Tuesday as the international military coalition hands over responsibility for fighting the Taliban insurgency to the nascent national army and police they have been training. ((AP Photo/Ahmad Jamshid))

President Barack Obama has cautioned this would be neither quick nor easy.

Advertisement

Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks at a press conference during a ceremony at a military academy on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Afghan forces have taken over the lead from the U.S.-led NATO coalition for security nationwide, Karzai announced in the significant milestone in the 12-year war. ((AP Photo/Rahmat Gul))

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, center left, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, center right, arrive at a ceremony at a military academy on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Karzai announced at the ceremony that his country's armed forces are taking over the lead for security nationwide from the U.S.-led NATO coalition. ((AP Photo/Rahmat Gul))

Local duo joining overseas exhibition excursionFilippo Swartz went to Italy, where his mother was born and he spent the first year or so of his life, every summer until he had to stick around to be a part of summer football activities for the Longmont High School team. Full Story

MacIntyre says the completed project will be best in Pac-12There were bulldozers, hard hats, mud, concrete trucks, blueprints, mud, cranes, lots of noise and, uh, mud, during the last recruiting cycle when Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre brought recruits to campus. Full Story

Most people don't play guitar like Grayson Erhard does. That's because most people can't play guitar like he does. The guitarist for Fort Collins' Aspen Hourglass often uses a difficult two-hands-on-the-fretboard technique that Eddie Van Halen first popularized but which players such as Erhard have developed beyond pop-rock vulgarity.
Full Story